Looking at key questions of how companies are held accountable under
private law, this book presents a succinct and accessible framework for
analysing and answering corporate attribution problems in private law.
Corporate attribution is the process by which the acts and states of
mind of human individuals are treated as those of a company to establish
the company's rights, duties, and liabilities. But when and why are acts
and states of mind attributed in private law?
Drawing on a wide range of material from across the disparate areas of
company law, agency law, and the laws of contract, tort, unjust
enrichment, and equitable obligations, this book's central argument is
that attribution turns on the allocation and delegation of the company's
own powers to act. This approach allows for a much greater and clearer
understanding of attribution. A further benefit is that it shows
attribution to be much more united and coherent than it is commonly
thought to be. Looking at corporate attribution across the broad expanse
of the common law, this book will be of interest to lawyers across the
common law world, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and
Singapore.